PICTURED: Prince Harry pilots historic Spitfire in dramatic flight

PRINCE Harry was left howling with joy after taking to the skies in a Spitfire.

Prince Harry was meeting injured servicemen and veterans ahead of a flypast later this year

The fourth in line to the throne piloted the aircraft as he caught up with an injured serviceman and veteran hoping to pilot the plane in a Battle of Britain flypast.

Harry performed a dramatic roll in the wartime fighter aircraft, screaming with delight as he briefly flew upside down.

Footage and pictures released today of the flight made last August show Harry sat in the back of the two-seater Spitfire.

Pilot and instructor Phil O'Dell gives the royal instructions for the engine to be started and the plane is then seen taking off in formation with an identical aircraft.

Outside the cockpit, the stunning coastline around the Isle of Wight and the neighbouring mainland can be seen.

PA • JOHN M. DIBBS

Prince Harry is a trained Apache Helicopter commander

My first landing in a Spitfire feels quite good

Prince Harry

After the daring manoevure, Mr O'Dell takes over the controls and before he performs a loop the prince asks the instructor, "what's the G (force) like on that?" and winces when he hears the reply "about two and a half, three".

As the wheels touch down at Boultbee Flight Academy in Goodwood, West Sussex Harry, an Apache Helicopter commander, says "my first landing in a Spitfire feels quite good" and adds as the plane comes to a stop: "all good things must come to an end".

On the ground he met two men who have won a place on a Spitfire scholarship training programme for wounded servicemen and women and veterans, with the pair aiming to join an historic aircraft flypast later this year, to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain.

The scholarship was established by the Boultbee Flight Academy and is supported by the Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry's Endeavour Fund - which donates money and offers practical help to sporting and adventure challenges for service personnel.

The Prince launched the scholarship programme in February last year and it mirrors the training Second World War Spitfire pilots received.

The scholarship draws inspiration from pilot Douglas Bader, who despite losing both his legs in a crash in 1931 claimed 20 individual aerial victories in the Second World War.

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The prince has long been involved in veterans' charities, including running the Invictus Games

Nathan Forster, 27, a former private in the Parachute Regiment from South Shields, Tyne and Wear and Corporal Alan Robinson, 36, an RAF aircraft technician from Market Rasen, Lincolnshire - who lost a leg in a motorbike accident - have been chosen for the course.

They have begun training on Chipmunk aircraft and will move on to a Harvard and finally the Spitfire.

Mr Foster, whose left leg was severely damaged by an IED blast while he was on a foot patrol in Helmand Province in 2011, hopes to use the experience gained from the project to launch a career in aviation.

He said: "This is my Everest, to achieve a solo flight in an Spitfire. I never thought I would get close to the aircraft let alone fly it, it's every boys' dream to get into the cockpit.

"You cannot ask for anything better to fly as a pilot but the flipside is to experience, in a way, what the guys went through 70 years ago, training to fly for the Battle of Britain - it's mind blowing how these young guys did it."